Blood of the Land

Blood of the Land, Rex Weyler, Everest House, 1982

This is the story of a modern war in America, a war waged by American corporations and the American and Canadian governments agianst AIM, the American Indian Movement.

AIM was founded in 1968 in Minneapolis by young Indian men who had been in and out of jail. They wanted to help drunk and desperate Indians to reconnect with their Indian roots, and to unite disparate groups. Since US policy has always been to keep Indians weak and divided, AIM was targeted, as early as 1971, for destruction by the US Government.

Whenever an Indian is killed by a white man, on or near a reservation, the local authorities shrug it off like it's nothing. The intention of AIM was to change that by nonviolently pressuring the authorities to investigate. If a white man is actually put on trial, he is either acquitted or given a very light sentence. But. let an Indian be suspected, let alone guilty, of something minor like breach of peace, and they are treated like Public Enemy Number One.

The US policy toward AIM was one of harassment, forcing them into long trials, shootings, jailhouse beatings, driving them underground, and, in too many cases, murder.

One hundred and fifty years ago, it was land hungry settlers who pushed the Indians off their land; today, it's American corporations, actively assisted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who look at Indian land with dollar signs in their eyes.

The author also gives an account of two well-known court cases. AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means went through a lengthy trial because of their involvement in the 1973 siege at Wounded Knee. All charges were eventually dismissed after government lying and manipulation got to be too much for the judge to swallow. The judge in the "trial" of Leonard Peltier seemed to have decided before the trial started that peltier was going to jail. Therefore, he simply refused to allow any evidence that might reduce the chance of a guilty verdict.

For those who think that oppression of indigenous peoples doesn't happen any more, or happens only in other countries, think again. This is an unforgettable book, and is highly recommended.